1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computerized film reprocessing techniques and, more particularly, to techniques for defining masks in frames of digitized picture stock.
2. Description of Related Art
Film colorization, that is, colorizing black-and-white motion pictures, turned the film industry on its side in the mid-1980s. With less than adequate color selection and limited hardware and software capabilities, early attempts at colorizing notable black-and-white film classics such as "Casablanca" and "The Big Sleep" produced less than favorable results, resulting in muddy hues that didn't always stick to the objects they were meant to color. Indeed, many film purists likened colorization to vandalism and defacement. However, in the 1990s a demand was created by the skyrocketing cost of producing new movies and television shows coupled with the burgeoning demand for movies and television shows to fill up time slots on the 500 or so cable channels, a demand which has been an incentive for colorizers to advance their craft to much higher levels of quality.
Colorizers have also applied their craft to more varied fields, fields which do not necessarily involve original black-and-white picture stock. For example, in the past if a director of a picture were unhappy with the color of a particular shot, the director would have had to reshoot the shot, which would have incurred high production costs. Further, commercial artists and advertisers may desire to intensify particular aspects of television commercials to be more appealing to consumers of target markets. Other special color effects may also be desired for a particular film, video, or television show, particularly music videos which are often intended for the less conservative teenage and young adult audience.
In order to manipulate and modify digitized picture stock, objects such as actors, cars, fixtures, and so on need to be "masked." A mask defines the object as a closed region being substantially homogeneous in color. A mask is typically drawn around an object by a user drawing polygons around the perimeter of the object, thereby approximating the shape of the object. It follows that the more complex the object or the shape of the object, the more lines of the polygon needed to accurately mask the object. This process requires substantial user time.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide edge detection or region definition technology for masking objects with increased efficiency by eliminating the need to draw polygons to approximate the shape of the object.